Great read, Russ.Civ is one of my favourite franchises, strategy or otherwise, and I'm pretty excited to see how this new addition to the Civ family will play out! Your article/preview has both laid fear to rest and got me wishing for a new gaming PC to run it! Even though it was only 45 minutes of game time, I'm pretty darn jealous.

One of few games this season im really waiting for. I grew up along with Civ series and im eager to see what they managed to do with the newest rendition. From what you say it seems they changed quite a bit, but in not-that-bad way. At least they didn't streamline it to be -click here to win- game.

Civ 3 was and still is one of my favorite games. I played a bit of Civ 4 and Civ Revolution and felt that they lacked a certain something from Civ 3. Hopefully this will bring back that X factor which I seem to not have found in the others.

Oh God, I need this game so bad!!!It's the only game I think I've ever actually wanted ever.Civ IV with Fall from Heaven 2 or Rise of Mankind Mods is GODLY!In fact, I think I'm just as excited for the Mods as I am for the game itself :)

So that's Starcraft 2 in July and Civilization V in September. Two massive PC games in three months. Looks like this picture might need some updating.

But seriously, I would question if this will kill off Civ IV, especially considering the vast changes to the combat system (specifically the one unit per space rule, and corrisponding ranged attacks). With previous games, it was pretty much a case of piling in the units and hoping the Random Number God doesn't decide that their spearmen should blow up your tanks. Now it looks like the battles will be closer to Panzier Tactics (or Advance Wars) and the like.

Delusibeta:So that's Starcraft 2 in July and Civilization V in September. Two massive PC games in three months. Looks like this picture might need some updating.

Indeedie, I've been thinking that for awhile now.

But seriously, I would question if this will kill off Civ IV, especially considering the vast changes to the combat system (specifically the one unit per space rule, and corrisponding ranged attacks). With previous games, it was pretty much a case of piling in the units and hoping the Random Number God doesn't decide that their spearmen should blow up your tanks. Now it looks like the battles will be closer to Panzier Tactics (or Advance Wars) and the like.

I think I see what you mean. I'm not sure about the average Civ player, but I'm personally looking forward to it, especially if the revolution/evolution of the mechanics of it are as good as they sound.